'Time is right': Petrol power wins over EV as Genesis confirms its first sports coupe to take on Lexus LC500, BMW 8 Series and Mercedes-AMG GT

Genesis is finally ready to join the big names in the luxury car market, confirming plans to launch its first-ever sports coupe.

And the big news is, despite hints at an all-electric sports car, the South Korean brand is adamant that buyers want petrol power.

The Hyundai-owned luxury brand has spent nearly a decade teasing a sports car, starting with the Essentia in 2018 and following it up with several more stylish design studies including the X Concept, X Speedium Coupe, X Convertible, X Gran Berlinetta and X Snow Speedium.

The most recent examples were the X Gran Coupe and Convertible, which were unveiled in Korea in early April, and these will form the basis for the long-awaited production car.

Speaking at the recent New York International Auto Show, Genesis Chief Creative Officer, Luc Donckerwolke, said the time had finally arrived for the brand to expand beyond its sedan and SUV offerings and offer a more emotive model.

“We have been doing coupes and we have been looking at the business cases of each of the concepts that we've done,” Donckerwolke explained. “And, you know, the brand being so young you are realising that sometimes the market is not ready for those products yet. Because they are obviously quite exclusive and you have, first of all, to build up and to consolidate the brand.

"Once you have to achieve that, you can then do one step higher at a time. Now we believe it's the right time.”

Donckerwolke said the process has been deliberately gradual, with its move into the more premium space with its One of One program in international markets (but not Australia) as well as its plans to launch its Magma performance sub-brand and to go motor racing with Genesis Magma Racing.

While there have been Magma variants of the G80 sedan and the GV60 and GV80 SUVs, the Genesis creative boss is adamant that the brand must create a true hero model. 

“We have been doing projects like the bespoke program, with the One of One, which are showing us that there's a big demand for more exclusive Genesis,” he said.

“You know it's a bit sad when you see at the line-ups that you see in most of our constructors. We are in a phase where you are getting rid of all the most extroverted vehicles in the line-ups. It's kind of normal to… sometimes take a [sports] car from the past and take this name and sell it as an SUV. It's a big betrayal of the heritage of a brand when you do this. We will not do this, and we believe that it's time now to bring a coupe type of vehicle coupe, maybe a convertible too, as a production car.”

The X Gran Coupe and Convertible are a clear indication of where the brand is headed with its first two-door models, opting for a larger, more opulent sports coupe over a compact and performance-focused option, such as the X Gran Berlinetta concept that was in Australia briefly earlier this year for laps at the Bathurst 12 Hour sports car race.

Donckerwolke revealed the X Gran Coupe and X Gran Convertible concepts were not merely design exercises but rather fully functional prototypes built on a version of the same platform that underpins the brand’s flagship G90 sedan (which is not sold in Australia).

The G90 is powered by the brand’s twin-turbo V6 engine and available with all-wheel drive, so the coupe and convertible could still boast reasonable performance credentials.

Regardless of what it means for performance or packaging, utilising an existing platform within the Genesis range is reportedly the key to getting the sports car project from concept to production.

“It's a prototype, fully functional,” Donckerwolke said of the X Gran Coupe. “The platform has not been touched, so it means it shows you that we can make a great coupe without modifying the platform, and that is already a big plus for the business case.

"If you don't modify the platform to do the car, it's a great win because you are reducing the investment to the [top] hats, to the upper body. So I made sure when I was doing those cars, I was reusing the major investment of those vehicles.”

The final piece of the puzzle is seemingly canvasing global demand, but Donckerwolke is confident the proposed petrol-powered, G90-based coupe and convertible are the right path, with demand for electric performance cars seemingly limited.

“Now talks are being made with all the regions,” he said. “We have very positive resonance, very strong demand after having, let's say, tried EV coupes and convertibles, we realise that people were not ready yet. So we said, ‘okay, well let's take an existing platform and let's make it clear’. And we noticed that there was absolutely no constraint, no compromise to be done in the design and the desirability of the product by taking the platform on the G90.

“So I'm very positive and the next months will show the potential of the demand that we will get from the markets and then, I hope we have very soon good news about that. But you can believe that I will not let that go.

"As you say, there's been numerous designs and the reason what I'm doing is because I will never give up on that.”